Reuters World News Highlights 1800 GMT Oct 29

October 29, 2012|Reuters

TOP STORIES

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NEW YORK/REHOBOTH BEACH - Hurricane Sandy began batteringthe U.S. East Coast on Monday with fierce winds and drivingrain, as the monster storm shut down transportation, shutteredbusinesses and sent thousands scrambling for higher ground hoursbefore the worst was due to strike.

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AMMAN - Syrian jets bombed parts of Damascus on Monday inwhat residents said were the capital's fiercest air raids yet,underlining the collapse of a truce proposed by peace envoyLakhdar Brahimi.

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WASHINGTON - With one week left in the tight battle for theWhite House, it's all about the vital swing state of Ohio.Unless it's about Colorado - or Iowa, or tiny New Hampshire.

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MADRID/ROME - Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy keptfinancial markets guessing on Monday over whether he will seek acredit line from the euro zone's rescue fund but said he woulddo so "when I think it is in the interests of Spain".

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ROME - The divided party of former Italian prime ministerSilvio Berlusconi suffered a fresh blow on Monday as votersturned against the centre-right in its former stronghold ofSicily, only five months before national parliamentaryelections.

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KIEV - Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich's party was oncourse on Monday to secure a parliamentary majority butinternational monitors said flaws in the way the election wasconducted meant the country had taken a "step backwards".

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VILNIUS - Lithuania's president on Monday vetoed a proposedcoalition government, saying one of the three parties involvedstood accused of serious voter fraud in a weekend election andwas therefore unfit to govern.

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PARIS - France's Socialist government on Monday rebuffedcalls from business leaders to slash labour charges, to boostcompetitiveness, and raise VAT, saying that would hit consumers.

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THE HAGUE - Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's Liberal Partyand the Labour Party said they had reached a coalition deal onMonday, paving the way for a pro-austerity, pro-Europeangovernment to be sworn in as early as next week.

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ATHENS - A prominent Greek journalist who published thenames of more than 2,000 wealthy Greeks with Swiss bank accountsappeared in court on Monday to stand trial on charges ofviolating data privacy laws.